Bob Pinedo Cancer Care Award

Together with a new generation of clinical researchers, John Haanen has developed a new therapeutic approach that enables the body's immune system to attack cancer cells more effectively. His most significant achievement has been the development of a 'tumour-infiltrating lymphocyte therapy' (TIL) for melanomas. TIL is a form of cancer treatment in which the patient's own immune cells are extracted from the tumour, strengthened, and then returned to the tumour so as to fight the cancer more effectively. In multiple studies, this therapy has demonstrated impressive results after only 4 to 6 weeks of treatment, leading to improved patient survival without recurrence of the cancer and improved quality of life.

TIL therapy is now a new standard treatment for melanoma patients in the Netherlands and Denmark; it has been fully covered by health insurance since 15 January 2023. This therapeutic approach will also soon be made available for other types of cancer, such as lung cancer and uterine cancer. John Haanen’s research therefore plays an important role in the wider field of cell therapy. His work is world-leading, both in terms of a willingness to think outside the box and in terms of impact.

More about John Haanen

Prof. Haanen is an internist/oncologist, and immunotherapy research group leader at the Netherlands Cancer Institute/Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital in Amsterdam. He is also professor in translational immunotherapy of cancer at Leiden University Medical Centre and head of the melanoma clinic at  Lausanne University Hospital in Switzerland.

French oncologist Laurence Zitvogel has spent thirty years studying the relationship between the immune system and the success of cancer treatments. Among other things, she discovered that the gut microbiome influences the efficacy of anticancer therapy. She is receiving this year’s Bob Pinedo Cancer Care Award for her pioneering research and passionate commitment to improving the quality of treatment and care for cancer patients.

About Laurence Zitvogel

Laurence Zitvogel (Suresnes, France, 1963) is full professor of Immunology Biology at the Université Paris-Saclay, France and scientific director of the Clinicobiome programme at Gustave Roussy in the Paris suburb of Villejuif. The aim of this medical research programme is to examine how microbiota influence the efficacy of cancer therapies.

Laurence Zitvogel has devoted herself to research at the interface of oncology, immunology and immunotherapy since the early 1990s at the University of Pittsburgh, US and then at Gustave Roussy, France.

She is an impassioned scientist who combines her dedication to research with a commitment to patient care and who also supervises a great many students and postdoctoral researchers. She has authored or co-authored more than five hundred publications and is one of the most cited researchers in her field. She has received various awards for her work and has been nominated as an Officer in the French L’Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur and at the French Academy of Medicine. She is also involved in integrating basic and clinical research groups and regularly organises local and international meetings bringing together researchers in her field from across the EU and beyond.

Jesús San Miguel received the 2020 Bob Pinedo Cancer Care Award. He discovered that commencing treatment early significantly improves the survival rate of patients with multiple myeloma, an aggressive form of blood cancer. Jesús San Miguel also played a decisive role in the introduction of a series of drug combinations that have now become an indispensable component of the standard treatment regime. 

More about Jesús San Miguel

Jesús San Miguel (born Almarza, Spain, 1953) is an inspirational speaker and impassioned physician who is dedicated to patients and the medical community, and whose research work has been published in leading medical journals. He has received multiple scientific awards and public honours for his work on myelomas. Jesús San Miguel has been Professor of Medicine and Director of Medical and Translational Research at the University of Navarra (Spain) since 2013.

Martine Piccart received the 2018 Bob Pinedo Cancer Care Award for her outstanding scientific contributions to the treatment of breast cancer and her multi-faceted educational and social contributions to clinical cancer research.

Martine Piccart has made a major social contribution to cancer research with the Breast International Group (BIG) which she established in 1996, with Queen Mathilde of Belgium as the honorary president. This unique international network comprises more than 50 research groups involving collaboration between top researchers in the fields of medical oncology, surgery, radiology, medical imaging, pathology, molecular biology, and biostatistics. The resulting international biobank of precisely characterised tumour samples provides the basis for countless research projects and opens up opportunities for future research.

More about Martine Piccart

Martine Piccart (born Brussels, 1953) is regarded as an inspiring role model for many (young) female physicians and researchers. Besides her work as a scientific researcher, she was the first – and so far only – female president of three major European professional organisations within the field of cancer research: the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO), the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), and the European CanCer Organisation (ECCO).

Her work has been published in prominent journals and is widely cited. Her authoritative scientific and educational qualities make her a respected, in-demand speaker at scientific conferences, and she has received multiple awards in recognition of her prominence in cancer research. Martine Piccart is scientific director at the Jules Bordet Cancer Institute in Brussels.

The Academy awarded the 2016 Bob Pinedo Cancer Care Award to the American cancer researcher Bert Vogelstein; this was the first time the Academy conferred the Award.

In the 1980s, Vogelstein clarified the genetic mechanism underlying the development of cancer. He is currently working on cancer medication that utilises the patient's immune system and also developing genetic tests that can detect cancer at an early stage.

More about Bert Vogelstein

Bert Vogelstein (born Baltimore, USA, 2 June 1949) is director of the Ludwig Center for Cancer Genetics and Therapeutics at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and Clayton Professor of Oncology and Pathology at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

Vogelstein graduated summa cum laude in mathematics, switching to medicine when he discovered – during an extra summer internship with a cancer researcher – that medicine was a better avenue to pursuing his passion.

Bert Vogelstein has co-authored more than 500 scientific publications and more than 100 patents. He is one of the world’s most frequently cited researchers and has received dozens of awards, including the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences in 2013. He is a member of organisations including the National Academy of Sciences and the European Molecular Biology Organization.